Free schools 'will help improve education'

The introduction of free schools will help to improve the education system, it has been suggested.

Nick Seaton, secretary of the Campaign for Real Education, said additional choice and competition within the state system will be a good thing.

If parents see demand for additional schools in their local areas then the government should be supporting them, he commented.

"In some places it is because the local authorities have been closing schools down and leaving geographical gaps so people have opened schools so that the children don't have to travel further to school," Mr Seaton explained.

"Filling a geographical gap must be a good thing because in these green times, nobody wants too much travelling."

Free schools will give parents the opportunity to choose the type of curriculum they think will benefit their child, Mr Seaton added.

In a speech earlier this week, education secretary Michael Gove said there have been 281 applications to set up free schools in 2012.